An inquiring mind might ask whether those community members would include ranchers, who are the ground-zero frontline experts of illegal border crossers. A report from last fall[2] quoted Texas rancher Dr. Mike Vickers[3] as saying, “The border is not secure; it’s dangerous. We’re in a war zone here. Washington is just a mass of deception. There’s absolutely no truth to what they’re saying.”

Dan Bell owns a cattle ranch in Nogales, Arizona, that sits right on the border with Mexico. He’s been on the property his whole life and has seen firsthand the violence and tragedy that stem from issues with illegal immigration.

A tall fence lines some of Bells’ land, but mostly the only thing dividing the two countries is a rickety barbed wire fence that can easily be climbed; he makes repairs to it himself.

It would be difficult to build the tall, protective fence along the entire border because of the mountainous topography.

When asked if he considers the border secure, Bells says it’s not. “We do need to focus on making sure that we have boots on the ground, that we have the technology available to us, that we have infrastructure to actually get to the border and patrol it.”